Wednesday, January 6, 2010

It's been ages since we've done one of these, but I've been accumulating open windows in my browser and think the New Year is a pretty good time to clean house. I've divided them into categories in an attempt to make this link-dump a little more coherent.

Amazingly Cool- Art Work: A National Conversation About Art, Labor, and Economics.I'm just in awe of this project. Definitely give it a look if you get a chance. I'm not sure if this is a one-time thing or if there will be future editions as well. (But what is it? Here's how it's described on their website:Art Work is a newspaper and accompanying website that consists of writings and images from artists, activists, writers, critics, and others on the topic of working within depressed economies and how that impacts artistic process, compensation and artistic property.)Jobs- Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don't Go from the Chronicle of Higher Education. Are the rewards (monetary and otherwise) of graduate school worth the expense? Or are humanities grads just buying into a broken system?- The Gervais Principle: The Office According to the Office. Very good, very incisive article despite the pop culture title. About the types of people you will meet on the way up the corporate ladder and on the way back down. Which type are you? WARNING: long.- 2010 Job Market Outlook: Cloudy from Yahoo Hot Jobs. No chance of meatballs.- College Grads Beware - You're Screwed from Wealth...Uncomplicated. People entering the job market today will earn less over their lifetimes and end up with less saved for retirement thanks to dreadful starting salaries.- One Way to Help the Lost Generation from Lindsey Pollak. Summary: pay those interns.- Six Ideas Obama Heard at the White House Jobs Summit from the Christian Science Monitor. An example of what happens when you open a link and then don't post it until a month later: it becomes extremely outdated. Still some of these ideas, particularly the incentives to hire, might also help museums.

3 comments:

If you haven't already, vist www.manyonline.org, the Museum Association of New York's web site. The organization's 2006 White Paper on the future of museum leadership in New York state and is 2008 paper on Succession planning both have sections on salaries along with comments/quotes many from those new to the field and in some cases from folks who left the field may interest you. MANY also publishes a salary survey--the oldest in the country--that's also available online.

@Erin - I think I might order a paper copy, because I just like it so darn much! Glad you enjoyed also.

@Anon - Thank you very much for the heads up on the white papers! I certainly wouldn't have thought I could find information about salaries in a document about succession planning. On the other hand, the MANY survey actually brings up a topic we'll be tackling soon: the differences between museum advocacy organizations in the US and the UK. In this instance the difference is that you have to pay to access MANY's survey. While I'm sure you're paying for quality, we entry level professionals aren't really up for a $30 PDF file.

About Us

Museos Unite is dedicated to ending the tyranny of low salaries, poor benefits, and lackluster advancement opportunities for highly skilled and highly trained professionals (particularly those with multiple degrees) wanting to work in the museum sector.

Museo (n., English) - any person who is working in, volunteering in, or seeking work in a museum. Person interested in collaborating to change the way museums are run not only for the benefit of the public, but for the betterment of Museos' situation in regards to pay, benefits, and professional development.

Kirsten Teasdale is a museum educator at a small history museum in an outer-borough of NYC. She has no unionization options.

Kat Hinkel is a Philadelphia-based marketing & development associate who works in her family business. She spends a lot of time thinking about museums.